<$300 compact 8x32 recommendation (1 Viewer)

Amazing resources here but I'm still unable to finalize my decision. I know this question get's asked all the time but I would greatly appreciate any opinions/feedback on the specific glass I'm considering and viable alternatives. I'm not too hard core in this realm, but I want to get something that I'm not going to regret every time I pick them up.

I am looking for a pair of bins primarily for travel + occasional birding and hiking. Something small enough to throw in a carry-on, shoulder bag or coat pocket and tough enough to take some abuse. Decent, but not precious I'm sure I would LOVE a pair of Ultravids or Zeiss FL's but I'm just not there at this time.

My benchmark pair are Pentax DCF-WP 8x32's that I got the wife many years ago and borrow when she allows. I find that pair to be a good size, easy to use, quite bright and sharp with no glaring problems. Everytime somebody uses these binos for the first time they remark on how nice they are. Pentax hasn't made these for years but if folks think these can't be beat, I may just track down a used pair.

Ideally I would like the new pair to be as small or smaller than the Pentaxs with comparable performance. Wide field of view and quick-smooth action are important to me.

I had a pair of Theron Wapiti LT 8x32's that were OK, but when given the choice I would always grab the Pentaxs instead. The 1"+ additional length made the difference of taking them with or not on more than one occasion. For better or worse, they were recently lifted from my unlocked car so I have an excuse to upgrade.

Here are some bins I'm considering.

Opticron Oregon 4 LE WP 8x32 - 2013 Cornell Lab Top Pick - The size looks great and I've found many favorable reviews but what is the sacrifice? Any idea how these would compare to the Pentax?

Zen Ray ZRS HD 8x32 - These tick all of my boxes, considering a fairly devoted Zen Ray following I'm surprised there are not more raving reviews.

Celestron Nature 8x32 - Also well liked by Cornell Lab - for some reason I'm not particularly excited about them.

Nikon Monarch 7 8x30 - Is the internal reflection issue on these resolved? Are they worth the $100+ premium? Currently there is $80 instant saving on them - is this Nikon trying to liquidate stock on defective units with the internal reflection or is it a great deal?

Braun Trekking 8x32 - these look really good on paper (so small!) but I can only find one real world review. Not widely available in the US, but there is an Amazon seller that indicates stock.

Here's a spreadsheet with relevant specs of those and some more options and benchmarks.

Again, I appreciate any feedback/suggestions/questions.

May everything you peer at be farther than it appears.

-kg

I can't give you too much advice on most of what you are asking, but I was looking for similar price/size recently so I know a little.

First off the Nikon discount is one that they are offering on all the Monarch range at the moment. The actual discount depends on the bino, e.g. the M5 8x42 has $50 off, and there are some with more than $80 I think. So it is just a normal promotion. The M7 is very nice. As I understood it the price for the M7 is a kind of sweet spot where you have to jump to $1000 or so to get a much better piece.

I hate to further confuse you but there is one missing from your list, which is the one that I ended up buying: the new Leupold Mojave BX-3 8x32. If you do a search you should find the threads I found where a lot of people on here were really impressed with it, and it seemed to just beat the Nikon M7. It has advantage of being very new to market and also is made in Japan rather than China, which is apparently a GOOD THING.

I haven't seen my pair yet as I am finally getting it on Saturday, but I trust the opinions I found on here that it is going to be great and consensus seemed to be that this is a stunning binocular for the price (in that same sweet spot as the M7).

You can find it at B&H at the moment for $289.

I hope this helps.

Robert


[[one example thread is this: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=277914]]

Leupold mojave 8x32
Should be < $300

The toughest one will be the Vortex Diamondback. Diamondbacks are noted for that. It won't be the brightest and it has short eye relief.

You are going to have to compromise on some things in this price range.

The Eagle Optics Ranger (Eagle Optics in house brand) 8x32 is on sale for $239.00. It has 45 5 star reviews on the E.O. website. They had to have sold a ton of them to get that many reviews. EO also has a no fault 30 day return policy if you don't like them.

http://www.eagleoptics.com/binoculars/eagle-optics/eagle-optics-ranger-8x32-binocular


Bob

Kg, welcome to the forum.

Your short list actually covers quite a range of technical features and performance, not to mention price. At the bottom, the lack of phase coating and basic mirroring means it wont be as bright and have the contrast of those at the top. They will also differ in the amount of colour fringing (CA) and ED glass is a good feature to look for, though not essential for good performance.

For all it's faults (yes it does have glare issues) the size weight, FOV, colour and sharpness of the Monarch 7 8x30 would be my first choice for a travel pair, but some undoubtedly some would get infuriated by the stray light. It has a new little brother the Prostaff 7 8x30 which is actually a little bigger and lacks some of the technical features and has a much narrower view but a much more attractive price. Watch out, they are not great with glasses if that is relevant.

The mention of Pentax led me on a different path. I think the Pentax BC 9x32 is rather good. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the Monarch 7 but the view is bright and crisp and the contrast excellent. However we believe it is a clone from the same factory as several other binoculars on the market. One has attracted a great deal of attention on the forum; the Sightron BSII 8x32. Rather than wade through the 955 posts of FrankD's thread Sightron have conveniently posted his review on their site.
http://info.sightron.com/Binoculars/SII-Blue-Sky-Series-/SIIBL832/

There are some new 8x32s from Vanguard and Hawke that caught my attention at the weekend's birding show, and I hope to be able to say more about them in the next few weeks. I'm sure you will get plenty of other recommendations.

David

typo said:

There are some new 8x42s from Vanguard and Hawke that caught my attention at the weekends birding show, and I hope to be able to say more about them in the next few weeks. I'm sure you will get plenty of other recommendations.

Click to expand...

Just to add on to David's point. If you can swing the extra cash, these are probably the best you can buy for < $400

http://www.eagleoptics.com/binoculars/vanguard/vanguard-endeavor-ed-ii-8x32-binocular

David (Typo) above mentions the Pentax 9x32.

I have been using the Pentax 9x32 DCF BC as a car binocular for a while now and it is excellent for a low cost binocular. It is bright and sharp and has great eye cups. It has 16mm ER and worked well when I wore Aviator type sun glasses but I do not use it with them often. It is the only binocular I have ever used where I can put the eye cups back into my eye sockets and not get blackouts. I normally use it in my usual manner bracing the eye cups up against and under my eye brows.

It has open frame construction and is quite light weight at 17.6 ounces. It has a narrow FOV more typical of a top of the line 10x32 but it also has a generous "sweet spot" with a slow tapering off to the edge of the view and it seems to me more like a 10x32 in it's view than an 8x32. I say this because my main binocular is a Nikon 10x32 EDG with a slightly smaller FOV.

This binocular is now on sale on the Ricoh/Pentax website for $259.00.

http://www.pentaxwebstore.com/product/9957

Bob

rdpx said:

I can't give you too much advice on most of what you are asking, but I was looking for similar price/size recently so I know a little.

First off the Nikon discount is one that they are offering on all the Monarch range at the moment. The actual discount depends on the bino, e.g. the M5 8x42 has $50 off, and there are some with more than $80 I think. So it is just a normal promotion. The M7 is very nice. As I understood it the price for the M7 is a kind of sweet spot where you have to jump to $1000 or so to get a much better piece.

I hate to further confuse you but there is one missing from your list, which is the one that I ended up buying: the new Leupold Mojave BX-3 8x32. If you do a search you should find the threads I found where a lot of people on here were really impressed with it, and it seemed to just beat the Nikon M7. It has advantage of being very new to market and also is made in Japan rather than China, which is apparently a GOOD THING.

I haven't seen my pair yet as I am finally getting it on Saturday, but I trust the opinions I found on here that it is going to be great and consensus seemed to be that this is a stunning binocular for the price (in that same sweet spot as the M7).

You can find it at B&H at the moment for $289.

I hope this helps.

Robert


[[one example thread is this: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=277914]]

Click to expand...

Just checked the specs on the Loopy BX-3, and the M7's FOV is much wider (8.2* vs. 6.9*). ChinBin or not, I still prefer the wider FOV of the M7. As my Uncle Tonoose once said as he opened his mouth wide as he gulped down his first hotdog in a hotdog eating contest: WID (chomp) DER (chomp) IS (chomp) BED (chomp) DER (he was French).

Brock

Apparently that spec is wrong, Brock. If you read the threads about it the true FOV is 8deg, (also it's a little heavier than they claim.)

Everyone that bought it loves it, but it seems like a huge own goal for Leupold to have that spec wrong on their website, no?

Robert

brocknroller said:

Just checked the specs on the Loopy BX-3, and the M7's FOV is much wider (8.2* vs. 6.9*). ChinBin or not, I still prefer the wider FOV of the M7. As my Uncle Tonoose once said as he opened his mouth wide as he gulped down his first hotdog in a hotdog eating contest: WID (chomp) DER (chomp) IS (chomp) BED (chomp) DER (he was French).

Brock

Click to expand...

Would agree on the Leupold Mojave and the Sightrons SII though the Nikon M7 is appealing in its own way as well.

I did do a "sub-$250" comparative binocular review here on the forum last fall with many of the binoculars listed in the original post.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=269560&highlight=8x32+review

rdpx said:

Apparently that spec is wrong, Brock. If you read the threads about it the true FOV is 8deg, (also it's a little heavier than they claim.)

Everyone that bought it loves it, but it seems like a huge own goal for Leupold to have that spec wrong on their website, no?

Robert

Click to expand...

Robert,

Leupold had better get their website straightened out! I would have dismissed the bin on the FOV alone.

Other than being Made in Japan, whatever that means these days (possibly assembled there with parts from other countries?), is there anything else to recommend it over the M7?

Are these clones or brothers from another mother?

Brock

brocknroller said:

Robert,

Leupold had better get their website straightened out! I would have dismissed the bin on the FOV alone.

Other than being Made in Japan, whatever that means these days (possibly assembled there with parts from other countries?), is there anything else to recommend it over the M7?

Are these clones or brothers from another mother?

Brock

Click to expand...

Yeah I know that FOV made me dismiss it until I started reading about it. Very odd they should have such a critical purchase decision stat so very wrong. Also the weight is way off (read the threads below)

Funnily enough I was trying to find out about the M7 and there is a big thread on here all about comparing the two and the Mojave wins out... They are different bins. The BX3 apparently doesn't have ED glass, but everything about it is just so good apparently it just doesn't need it.

In the end I had choice between a $300 M7 or a mint used $190 Mojave. It was not a hard decision.

I'll see if I can find the threads - they were pretty convincing.

We fly out to LAX tomorrow and are reunited with my family on Catalina on Saturday. They have my Mojaves waiting for me I am very keen to try them out...

Review

general talk

Comparison to M7


Enjoy!!

R

I recently dropped a line to Leupold asking if they could date the year of manufacture from the serial number of a binocular unit.

Their reply was, and I quote “My screen is not showing a year of manufacture, but it is coming up as an authentic Leupold bino. Return it to us asking for it to be returned as close as possible to "factory condition". We'll do so and ship them back to you on our dime”.

And that for a long discontinued entry level line.

Thanks, that alone would suffice as a recommendation, and I'm a Nikon longtimer !

I am doing battle right now between my Sightron SII Blue Sky 8x32's and the Leupold Mojave 8x32's, and I am finding it very difficult to choose between them. The Mojave's have the edge in brightness (low light) and a bit larger field of view, that seems more open in the Mojaves, probably because of the larger ocular lenses, but the Sightrons give an excellent showing in a little lighter package, though not as good for lower light as the Mojaves, but they do have a certain quality to the view that I like too. Ah well, then, what fun the comparisons are though!

Did that battle myself as well Barry. It is a lot of fun, isn't it?

FrankD said:

Did that battle myself as well Barry. It is a lot of fun, isn't it?

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Yes Frank, I can say that it's fun most of the time, but other times I have found that it can drive you a little "batty" too! o

But really, we're lucky to have the excellent choices that we do today. Which makes it all the harder to choose between them. Oh well, back to "the grind"! ; )

I drove myself nuts all summer with comparisons and shipping charges and especially wasted time. I finally just said to hell with it and bought Swarovision.
I'm not thrilled about the expenditure, but the continuous comparison fizz is over. I do think my Zen ED2 is VERY nice for a more real world price though.

Bruce

bluespiderweb said:

Yes Frank, I can say that it's fun most of the time, but other times I have found that it can drive you a little "batty" too! o
; )

Click to expand...

bh46118 said:

I drove myself nuts all summer with comparisons and shipping charges and especially wasted time. I finally just said to hell with it and bought Swarovision.
I'm not thrilled about the expenditure, but the continuous comparison fizz is over. I do think my Zen ED2 is VERY nice for a more real world price though.

Bruce

Click to expand...

:t:



Bryce...